Non-volatile memory systems, such as NAND flash memory systems, are commonly used in electronic systems ranging from consumer products to enterprise-level computer systems. When a host that is in communication with a non-volatile memory system seeks to retrieve data from that non-volatile memory system, a host read command may be sent from the host that typically includes a logical address the non-volatile memory system can use to find data stored in a physical location assigned to that logical address. If the logical address is not associated with any valid data in the non-volatile memory system, then the non-volatile memory system is typically expected to send back a predetermined form of zero data in response to the host read command. Without the ability for the non-volatile memory system to respond with a predetermined zero data indication, the non-volatile memory system may return invalid data that might cause an error for the host.
One typical situation where a host may be seeking data that doesn't exist in a memory system is when a new and empty memory device is connected to the host. An existing solution for handling situations where a read command is seeking data from a logical address that isn't associated with valid data is for the memory system to simply to generate and read out zero data from a RAM buffer. This solution may not work for encrypted memory systems or data path protected systems. Another possible mechanism for avoiding read errors with a new memory system is to format all the memory cells to store recognized zero data. The act of formatting all the memory cells to store zero data, however, may affect the overall endurance of NAND memory cells in a non-volatile memory system.